Rooftop respite garden built on a roof of Children’s Hospital of Illinois

Wednesday

Aug 27, 2014 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2014 at 11:21 PM

Pam Adams of the Journal Star

PEORIA — Jerry and Lynn Flaherty banter like the longtime married couple they are.

Here, on a roof of Children’s Hospital of Illinois, the easy banter masks unspeakable emotions more than 50 years old.

The Flahertys got their first glimpse Wednesday of the rooftop respite garden named in their honor. A blessing and ribbon cutting will be Thursday afternoon.

While Jerry Flaherty kept bringing up the technical engineering feat of building a garden on a roof, Lynn Flaherty kept going back to the babies and families inside the walls, on the hospital’s fourth-floor pediatric critical care unit.

“I know what it feels like to worry about children, to be by their bedside,” she says.

The Flahertys’ three sons range from 50 to 55 years old, but memories of their births prompted the couple to donate $500,000 to build the garden. Jerry Flaherty’s former employer, Caterpillar Inc., matched their gift, making the garden possible. He retired as a group president in 2001.

All three sons were born two to three months prematurely, Lynn Flaherty says. One weighed four pounds at birth, one weighed three pounds, the other weighed two pounds. They were born at a time when parents weren’t even allowed to put their hands in incubators.

She hopes contemporary families going through similar experiences will be able to leave hospital rooms and find comfort and peace a few steps away in the garden. “If we can do this for these families, it will be a dream come true for me.”

When the garden opens officially, probably after Labor Day, it will be one of the most exclusive areas in the city, open only to families of patients in the pediatric care unit of Children’s Hospital, which is based at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center.

The Jerry and Lynn Flaherty Family Respite Garden overlooks the whir of traffic along Interstate 74 and brings the skyscape of Downtown Peoria to eye level.

Trees, flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses and hundreds of perennial flowers, chosen to attract birds and butterflies, are interspersed with beds of blue Mexican cobblestones intended to represent a meadow stream.

Wooden walkways guide the way to sitting areas, the fountain centerpiece and a trio of canopies made of aluminum grating, each weighing about 5,000 pounds.

Tempered glass, etched with inspirational quotes, forms a protective fence near the roof’s edge without obstructing the view.

Plans for the garden have been in the works several years. Originally part of the Milestone Project, it was delayed first because of budget constraints and later because of construction technicalities. The Flahertys say they grabbed the opportunity to help fund it. They both say they are “thrilled” with the results and the response.

“I see more enthusiasm about this one project than I saw at Caterpillar about many, many projects,” Jerry Flaherty says.

Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.